Traditions
by nra40
Summary: Hermione has to ask Neville to explain something that Draco has done. Dramione. Aimless Fluff, no explanation, background, or reasoning given. Accept the fluff, resistance is futile.


"Wait, he got you robes?"

"Yes... What's so important about robes?"

"Let me see them."

Hermione hesitantly handed the box over to Neville, watching as he opened it and his eyes widened at his first sight of fine green silk. He let out a heavy breath, and looked at her for permission. She nodded, and he carefully took the robes out of the box, standing up and letting them fall unfolded, to see the back. On the back of the robes, done all in golden and brown hues, matching the golden accents, was what appeared to be a crest, but one completely unfamiliar to Hermione. It had an owl standing rampant over a pile of books, bordered by feathers. Hermione looked at Neville for explanation.

"Hermione... Draco is serious about this. Very serious."

"What? What in the world does 'Very serious' mean? What does all this mean? Why... Why is he doing this?"

Neville sighed, smoothing the fabric between his hands and beginning to fold it gently back up.

"It is a very, very old pureblooded tradition. When a very high class child is courting someone completely nameless, most often a bastard children of other high families, but not always, a precedent came up where the nobleman would essentially ennoble the... object of their affections, so the marriage, while still completely uneven in class, would not be so disgraceful as to leave a blank spot on the family tree. It is... a very old tradition. It is hardly done anymore at all actually, as the families willing to... lower themselves like that stopped caring about family trees entirely generations ago, and the families who still care would never allow their children to marry nameless bastards. The fact that Draco went and did this... it takes a lot of effort, not to mention cash, to get an ennoblement pushed through. It's actually less difficult now than it has been in the past, but it is still a tedious process. This is really important to him; he is quite serious in his intentions."

Hermione was stunned. Neville handed the box with the robes back to her, and she numbly accepted them. She blinked a few times and finally had something to say.

"What... what do I do now?"

"Well, that depends. Do you want to accept his suite or tell him you're not interested? Oh, interestingly enough, even if you reject Draco, you're still technically ennobled, and you could use the crest on your letters and such."

"If I... accept the robes, that's like telling him it's okay for him to... court me, right?"

"Yes. It's basically saying that you don't find him completely repulsive, and you understand that his intentions are quite honorable."

"Are they? Honorable, I mean."

Neville looked at Hermione very seriously.

"Hermione, if Draco is doing all of this, his intentions are very honorable. If he's following the full precedent, and somehow I think that he will, sending robes is his first action. Should you accept them, he will begin sending tokens of affection, little things, things that have meaning or purpose for you specifically, that are mainly supposed to show you how much he cares, and how much he knows you. At any time during all of this you can return the gifts and completely call of the courting. Should you not, however, he will eventually approach either you or your guardian to arrange a... date of sorts, but it's more of a public, chaperoned meeting. You would continue to meet for arranged, chaperoned meetings for a while, until he decides enough time has passed and proposes marriage. That would be a sort of… informal proposal, and should you accept you become officially affianced, but it would be acknowledged as a sort of half engaged. I really am having a hard time explaining this part... Anyways, after that you can start meeting privately, though he should be on his best behavior. Then, after meeting with him privately for some amount of time, you decide to formally announce your betrothal at a public announcement party and it becomes truly official. I imagine you can figure out the rest."

Hermione had a very blank expression on her face. The one she got when she was processing a lot of information very quickly. Finally it broke and a kind of terror came over her.

"Marriage? But, but, we're still in school, I mean I know we're seventh years, and really lots of purebloods start these things much earlier, but marriage! That's not, that's how, that's, that's..."

"Hermione! Calm down. He's not asking you to marry him right away; actually, by choosing an old traditional courtship like he has, he is giving you lots and lots of chances to back down. At any point during all of this you could quite easily return everything he's given you, and end the whole arrangement, no hard feelings. Besides, the various phases of the courtship are quite often drawn out fairly significantly, he could just send you stuff for months, and then after that, the meetings could continue for months, until you finally accept his first proposal, and then the private meetings continue even longer. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea and stop it, if you decide marriage is unbearable."

Hermione slumped back with a sigh.

"Wow. Marriage. That's... I just never thought about it before, you know? And certainly not about Draco of all people..."

* * *

><p>AN: I… I don't know. It's not angst; it's not even leading up to angst. I have absolutely no background for this in my head, other than the idea that Draco is courting Hermione according to ancient pureblood traditions which she doesn't understand at all, and Neville has to translate for her. That's it. I have no intention of writing any more in this 'verse, at all. Though chances are that if I did, the mood would change drastically. This sort of thing has been done a million times in the past, I don't even know if I was specifically inspired by one person any more, this is just my take on the weird!Traditions idea.


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